Thank you for the feedback. You both are right. I'm not used to playing control, so I was playing what I know. But my current UG build doesn't have enough answers. I'll tweak it some more with your suggestions.
I've had some fun with this deck. Since we combo off with infinite mana and infinite card draw my wincon has been Research // Development.
With this you can grab 4 cards from your sideboard. My favorite right now is: Shimmer Myr => Vedalken Orrery. This lets me cast more Sporemounds to fill the stack up with put a 1/1 saproling. Then cast Worldfire. Let the stack resolve and now I have as many saprolings as I want and everyone's life total is 1.
During a game at FNM someone cast Eternal Witness and returned Verdant Catacombs to their hand. His opponent commented on how that was the worst E.Wit use, and I responded that it got the most $$ value from the cards in his graveyard.
After that comment if got me thinking if there could be a regrowth with casting cost restrictions. I'll try to fit the flavor of Theros since it is the current block.
G
Restoration of the Gods
Instant
Return the card with the highest converted mana cost from your graveyard to your hand. If two or more cards are tied chose one of those cards.
"The gods save themselves first"
-Kleon the Iron-Booted
does that see any play, maybe in boggles against something with a lot of fetches?
I play root maze in one of my decks and have people quit on MTGO. Mostly because shock lands will still let you pay two life, but still will be tapped.
How do we feel about running Yeva, Nature's Herald somewhere in our 75? I haven't tested with it, but I'm wondering if the ability to combo off at instant speed might be something worth having.
I run one Yeva in my sideboard for Twin. She is survives most their removal, but more importantly she can come out when their tappers flash in to tap down a land or dork.
Yeva can also be tapped with heritage druid. I've had luck flashing her in vs twin and then tapping 3 elves and flash in a lord around Twin's counters.
I just played a version of Combo Elves at local tournament. The deck went 2 and 2 in 4 matches. It lost both to Affinity and Jund, and beat two versions of Twin. I’ll detail the matches and certain cards I thought stood out below.
Game 1:
I was on the play game one. I started with Essence Warden; Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Arbor Elf, Forest, Nettle Sentinel, Forest, and a Heritage Druid.
I was able to play the elves down quickly and drew into another forest and arbor elf. This allowed an overrun each turn thanks to Ezuri. The game ended quickly with a win vfrom aggro-ing out.
Game 2:
I can’t remember what I started with, but it wasn’t great. This game Jund was playing first and quickly took control with Liliana of the Veil and Tarmogoyf. The Liliana was followed up with another Liliana the next turn using the new Planeswalker rules to hit me with a sacrifice and a discard. I wanted to keep my creatures so I discarded my only spell. It was a sorcery and put Tarmogoyf up to 5/6. I took seven damage from him and Bob, drew, and then conceded.
Game 3:
This game played very similarly to Game 2. I couldn’t get enough creatures on the board before burn and creature sacrifice caused me to have and empty board facing down two goyfs. I conceded here as well.
Had I know there was going to be 3 people running affinity I’d have put in Kataki, War's Wage. As it was I got plenty of elves on the ground this time, but they could out race the signal pest with Cranial Plating attached.
Game 1:
I stared off by taking a mulligan down to 6. I started off with Forest, Arbor Elf, Nettle Sentinel, Forest, Heritage Druid, and Manamorphose. I knew I was going up against Twin to start so I played Nettle Sentinel down first. This was in hopes of going Aggro.
The sentinel got in for 4 damage before a Spellskite came down. After that there were 2 turns of Arbor Elf getting in for 1 damage and some life lost due to fetch lands. Bringing the Twin player down to 13.
He had Splinter Twin on Spellskite and a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker , but could draw either of the other pieces of the combo.
I was then able to Aggro out.
Game 2:
I boarded in 3 Vines of Vastwood and 1 Avoid Fate. Twin had to mulligan down to 5 to start, so things were looking up.
This game is where Yeva shined. She’ll do more work in the next match, but she is great versus control. Many of my creatures were countered, but Yeva was able to get in there when a Pestermite was cast at the end of my turn. At that point I was able to flash in any creature as soon as Twin spent enough mana to be out of bolt range.
I didn’t board in any Plummets, so Pestermite kept getting in for two. But with Yeva on the board I was just able to bring in a few more creatures until he got a Deceiver Exarch . This tapped down Yeva for a turn.
On the last turn I played my Vines of Vastwood, kicked, on an unblocked arbor elf. It was about to be vapor snagged, but Avoid Fate ensured it stayed on the board.
Game 1:
This game was the first where I was about to combo out. This twin player had many more counterspells and burn, and controlled the board fairly well, but I was able to get enough pieces to Weird Harvest for the final pieces while at 3 life.
The Twin player suspected something was up and countered the Weird Harvest and beat be down with a Celestial Colonnade
Game 2:
This game featured the first combo win for the deck. Once again Yeva was awesome at getting creatures onto the board after an end of turn Deceiver.
I stopped a Splinter Twin with Vines, saving me for a bit. I then was able to go off with Elvish Visionary, Heritage Druid, a couple of Nettle Sentinels and a Curio. Drawing into an Ezuri with infinite mana.
Game 3:
This game followed the same pattern as Game 2. Having creatures countered or remanded, until Yeva was able to get them on the board.
Colonnade and Pestermite were looking to make short work of me, but I was able to Harvest into the combo pieces this time with Beck instead of Visionary.
Yeva: This girl is great versus Twin. Once they tap their mana for Pestermite or Deciever, you can easily get in so many creatures under their control. It isn’t expected for Green to have flash, so they don’t give a second thought to tapping out at the end of your turn.
Mirror Entity: This was in the deck from a previous version that had Wirewood Symbiote. I saw the Symbiote in the new frame and assumed was in modern. This card should go. I thought it could still be an Ezuri without the Trample, but each time I had it I’d rather have had Ezuri.
Essence Warden: It’s nice that it is an elf, but there doesn’t seem to be a need to gain life with this deck. Playing so few lands it would’ve been better as a Llanowar Elves .
Leyline of Vitality: I once had a whole playset in the deck. The though was to put my elves out of reach of Pyroclasm . I didn’t like it in play testing and took most of them out. I should’ve just removed the whole lot. Joraga Warcaller would’ve been better, as he is a Lord and can just be a one drop.
Weird Harvest: I like this card. It is kind of like Chord of Calling on the cheap. Since you’ll most likely tap your elves with Heritage Druid to pay for it, it plays like having Convoke. It really comes in handy though for finding those last few Nettle Sentinels or a Heritage Druid to go off. It even worked against Twin.
Riftsweeper: It can go. I had it in there, for the what if my Ezuri gets Path to Exile cast on it. I shouldn’t worry about that. If that happens then you can still threaten with 100% of your other elves if you’ve combo-ed off. This should be another Mana Dork.
Helix Pinnacle + Savor the Moment: I didn’t get to use it, but I’ll still keep it for the off chance a Fog gets in the way of an infinitely huge elf. With research you can then go grab these two cards and still win the game.
Nettle Sentinel: Great card and must have, but I need to be more careful when playing it. I missed 3 triggers for its untap. None of them cost me any games, but it certainly could’ve. The trigger says “may”, so you have to actually catch it.
Kataki, War's Wage: This isn’t in the deck, but will make an appearance in the sideboard now that I know the Meta is Affinity heavy.
The goal was to keep on hoping for turns. Then deal damage with you creatures with shadow.
4 Plow Under
4 Harrow
4 Arbor Elf
4 Kodama's Reach
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
2 Willbender
4 Infiltrator il-Kor
9 Island
Honestly it won more often with Vesuvan Shapeshifter copying creatures of the opponent and Willbender using the cards of the opponent against them.
That isn't to say it won often.
Thank you for the feedback. You both are right. I'm not used to playing control, so I was playing what I know. But my current UG build doesn't have enough answers. I'll tweak it some more with your suggestions.
It violates 1 rule by having a creature without defender. Namely Arbor Elf. But the guy synergies with Utopia Sprawl so well.
4 Harmonize
1 Concentrate
4 Manamorphose
4 Bonded Fetch
4 Carven Caryatid
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Wall of Roots
4 Arbor Elf
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Shared Fate
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Breeding Pool
9 Forest
6 Island
With this you can grab 4 cards from your sideboard. My favorite right now is: Shimmer Myr => Vedalken Orrery. This lets me cast more Sporemounds to fill the stack up with put a 1/1 saproling. Then cast Worldfire. Let the stack resolve and now I have as many saprolings as I want and everyone's life total is 1.
This gets around Leyline of Sanctity and even a Platinum Emperion.
After that comment if got me thinking if there could be a regrowth with casting cost restrictions. I'll try to fit the flavor of Theros since it is the current block.
G
Restoration of the Gods
Instant
Return the card with the highest converted mana cost from your graveyard to your hand. If two or more cards are tied chose one of those cards.
"The gods save themselves first"
-Kleon the Iron-Booted
The combo usually goes off on turn 5-6 which is too slow for modern, but a turn 1 Root Maze can buy the turns vs tier 1 decks to go off.
I play root maze in one of my decks and have people quit on MTGO. Mostly because shock lands will still let you pay two life, but still will be tapped.
After getting shocked for no gain they quit.
If they need to be submitted, I found a recent 3-1 Elves.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/6454976
I run one Yeva in my sideboard for Twin. She is survives most their removal, but more importantly she can come out when their tappers flash in to tap down a land or dork.
Yeva can also be tapped with heritage druid. I've had luck flashing her in vs twin and then tapping 3 elves and flash in a lord around Twin's counters.
15 Forest
Creatures
4 Heritage Druid
4 Arbor Elf
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Essence Warden
1 Orochi Leafcaller
1 Riftsweeper
3 Elvish Visionary
4 Elvish Archdruid
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Mirror Entity
1 Yeva, Nature's Herald
1 Regal Force
4 Abundant Growth
4 Manamorphose
4 Weird Harvest
3 Beck (Beck/Call)
1 Research (Research/Development)
2 Cloudstone Curio
1 Leyline of Vitality
4 Avoid Fate
3 Vines of Vastwood
3 Plummet
1 Leyline of Vitality
1 Eternal Witness
1 Glimmerpoint Stag
1 Savor the Moment
1 Helix Pinnacle
Game 1:
I was on the play game one. I started with Essence Warden; Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Arbor Elf, Forest, Nettle Sentinel, Forest, and a Heritage Druid.
I was able to play the elves down quickly and drew into another forest and arbor elf. This allowed an overrun each turn thanks to Ezuri. The game ended quickly with a win vfrom aggro-ing out.
Game 2:
I can’t remember what I started with, but it wasn’t great. This game Jund was playing first and quickly took control with Liliana of the Veil and Tarmogoyf. The Liliana was followed up with another Liliana the next turn using the new Planeswalker rules to hit me with a sacrifice and a discard. I wanted to keep my creatures so I discarded my only spell. It was a sorcery and put Tarmogoyf up to 5/6. I took seven damage from him and Bob, drew, and then conceded.
Game 3:
This game played very similarly to Game 2. I couldn’t get enough creatures on the board before burn and creature sacrifice caused me to have and empty board facing down two goyfs. I conceded here as well.
Game 1 and 2 were both very much the same. Signal Pest; Cranial Plating; Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Other cards you’d expect from Affinity. The games went about 3 turns each.
Had I know there was going to be 3 people running affinity I’d have put in Kataki, War's Wage. As it was I got plenty of elves on the ground this time, but they could out race the signal pest with Cranial Plating attached.
Game 1:
I stared off by taking a mulligan down to 6. I started off with Forest, Arbor Elf, Nettle Sentinel, Forest, Heritage Druid, and Manamorphose. I knew I was going up against Twin to start so I played Nettle Sentinel down first. This was in hopes of going Aggro.
The sentinel got in for 4 damage before a Spellskite came down. After that there were 2 turns of Arbor Elf getting in for 1 damage and some life lost due to fetch lands. Bringing the Twin player down to 13.
He had Splinter Twin on Spellskite and a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker , but could draw either of the other pieces of the combo.
I was then able to Aggro out.
Game 2:
I boarded in 3 Vines of Vastwood and 1 Avoid Fate. Twin had to mulligan down to 5 to start, so things were looking up.
This game is where Yeva shined. She’ll do more work in the next match, but she is great versus control. Many of my creatures were countered, but Yeva was able to get in there when a Pestermite was cast at the end of my turn. At that point I was able to flash in any creature as soon as Twin spent enough mana to be out of bolt range.
I didn’t board in any Plummets, so Pestermite kept getting in for two. But with Yeva on the board I was just able to bring in a few more creatures until he got a Deceiver Exarch . This tapped down Yeva for a turn.
On the last turn I played my Vines of Vastwood, kicked, on an unblocked arbor elf. It was about to be vapor snagged, but Avoid Fate ensured it stayed on the board.
Game 1:
This game was the first where I was about to combo out. This twin player had many more counterspells and burn, and controlled the board fairly well, but I was able to get enough pieces to Weird Harvest for the final pieces while at 3 life.
The Twin player suspected something was up and countered the Weird Harvest and beat be down with a Celestial Colonnade
Game 2:
This game featured the first combo win for the deck. Once again Yeva was awesome at getting creatures onto the board after an end of turn Deceiver.
I stopped a Splinter Twin with Vines, saving me for a bit. I then was able to go off with Elvish Visionary, Heritage Druid, a couple of Nettle Sentinels and a Curio. Drawing into an Ezuri with infinite mana.
Game 3:
This game followed the same pattern as Game 2. Having creatures countered or remanded, until Yeva was able to get them on the board.
Colonnade and Pestermite were looking to make short work of me, but I was able to Harvest into the combo pieces this time with Beck instead of Visionary.
Yeva: This girl is great versus Twin. Once they tap their mana for Pestermite or Deciever, you can easily get in so many creatures under their control. It isn’t expected for Green to have flash, so they don’t give a second thought to tapping out at the end of your turn.
Mirror Entity: This was in the deck from a previous version that had Wirewood Symbiote. I saw the Symbiote in the new frame and assumed was in modern. This card should go. I thought it could still be an Ezuri without the Trample, but each time I had it I’d rather have had Ezuri.
Essence Warden: It’s nice that it is an elf, but there doesn’t seem to be a need to gain life with this deck. Playing so few lands it would’ve been better as a Llanowar Elves .
Leyline of Vitality: I once had a whole playset in the deck. The though was to put my elves out of reach of Pyroclasm . I didn’t like it in play testing and took most of them out. I should’ve just removed the whole lot. Joraga Warcaller would’ve been better, as he is a Lord and can just be a one drop.
Weird Harvest: I like this card. It is kind of like Chord of Calling on the cheap. Since you’ll most likely tap your elves with Heritage Druid to pay for it, it plays like having Convoke. It really comes in handy though for finding those last few Nettle Sentinels or a Heritage Druid to go off. It even worked against Twin.
Riftsweeper: It can go. I had it in there, for the what if my Ezuri gets Path to Exile cast on it. I shouldn’t worry about that. If that happens then you can still threaten with 100% of your other elves if you’ve combo-ed off. This should be another Mana Dork.
Helix Pinnacle + Savor the Moment: I didn’t get to use it, but I’ll still keep it for the off chance a Fog gets in the way of an infinitely huge elf. With research you can then go grab these two cards and still win the game.
Nettle Sentinel: Great card and must have, but I need to be more careful when playing it. I missed 3 triggers for its untap. None of them cost me any games, but it certainly could’ve. The trigger says “may”, so you have to actually catch it.
Kataki, War's Wage: This isn’t in the deck, but will make an appearance in the sideboard now that I know the Meta is Affinity heavy.